Oklahoma High School CU Branch to Stay Open in Wake of Attempted Robbery

Tinker Federal Credit Union said Thursday it intends to keep open the high school branch that was the scene last week of an alleged attempted robbery by a student who later told authorities he was just kidding.

Police said Thursday the investigation has been concluded and was turned over to the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s office for prosecution.

“We have been in conversations with the school district about continuing our communications with the students about what is appropriate and what’s not,” said Matt Stratton, vice president of marketing for Tinker FCU.

“We have every plan to continue with the branch at the school. It is part of their financial academy,” Stratton said.

In addition to its John Marshall High School branch, the credit union operates school branches at Crooked Oak Public Schools and Metro Technology Centers, both in Oklahoma City. Stratton said they have had no issues at those branches.

Oklahoma City Public Schools officials said they held meetings with John Marshall High students shortly after the attempted robbery and will continue to work with Tinker FCU on educating students of the consequences of such actions.

Before the incident occurred, school officials had posted a sign at the branch warning that students who insinuate or pretend to hold up the TFCU branch will be arrested and prosecuted.

According to police reports, Chatman walked up to the counter in the Tinker FCU branch with his hands inside the pockets of his hoodie. He raised his right hand up that gave the appearance of a gun in his right pocket and said: “Give me some money,” to a Tinker FCU teller.

The teller, who was assisting two other student tellers, told Chatman he could be in a lot of trouble for this action, and one of the students attempted to get Chatman to leave the branch, the police report said.

But the 6-foot, 170-pound Chatman refused and stood in front of the teller for about 30 seconds before he finally left the branch without any money, police said after reviewing the security camera footage.

The teller told police she did not think Chatman had a gun but that she wasn’t sure. It turned out he did not have a gun and, without incident, police took Chatman into custody in the school’s gymnasium.

Police said Chatman claims he was only joking about robbing the in-school branch. Witnesses said they thought it was a joke at first, too, but then stated they didn’t know because Chatman became very aggressive and very forceful in demanding money and pointing his so-called gun. He left the bank with witnesses believing Chatman possibly had something in his pocket.

Last year, a seventh-grade student walked into the school’s Tinker FCU branch and joked about robbing it. But a police investigation determined the student was joking and no charges were filed, according to Oklahoma City Police.